Electronic mechanical apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines in the making of jacquard knitted fabrics

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines in which there is provided a programming member in the form of a panel of Cartesian coordinates imposing and elements according to the required pattern, with the imposing or not of said elements determining the emission of signals for the selection of the needles which have to work in latch stroke of the carriage, so as to permit the required pattern to be imposed with the greatest ease and in a directly visible manner.

[22] Filed:

ilnited States Patent 1191 Protti 1 ELECTRONIC MECHANICAL APPARATUS FOR THE SELECTION OF NEEDLES IN STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINES IN THE MAKING OF JACQUARD KNITTED FABRICS [75] Inventor: RiccardoProtti, Milan, Italy [73] Assignee: Protti Fabbrica Macchine per Maglieria S.n.c. di Umberto Protti e. F. lli, Milan, Italy July 22, 1971 21 Appl. N01: 165,181

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 25, 1970 Italy 27906/70 s2] U.S. C1 66/154 A [51] Int. Cl D041) 15/66 [58] Field of Search 66/154 A, 64, 95

' [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,434,305 4/1965 Bentley 66/155 3,641,788 2/1972 Mori et al......- 66/60 1111 3,805,558 1451 Apr. 23, 1974 2,731,572 l/195 6 Cobert 66/154 X 3,035,426 5/ 19621 MacQueen 66/ 154 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,165,368 9/1969 Great Britain .1 66/154 A 1,123,873 8/1968 Great Britain 66/50 R UX 1,456,832 9/1966 France 66/75 1,383,959 11/1964 France.. 66/154 1,544,657 9/1968 France 66/154 Primary Examiner-Ronald Feldbaum Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern 5 7] ABSTRACT An apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines in which there is provided a programming member in the form of a panel of Cartesian coordinates imposing and elements according to the required pattern, with the imposing or not of said elements determining the emission of signals for the selection of the needles which have to work in latch stroke of the carriage, so as to permit the required pattern to be imposed with the greatest ease and in a directly visible manner.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 23 I974 SHEU 1 [IF 4 PATENTED APR 2 3 I974 SHEET 2 OF 4 wn w HHHH hm 22 fin A W Y W PATENT'EDAPRZB 19M 3,805558 SHEET [1F 4 OOO @OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO OOOOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO@OOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO@@@OOOOOOOOOOOO 13 OOOOOOOOOO@@@@@@OOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOO@OOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOQ QOO@@@@OOOOOOOOOO OOQOOOO@@@@ O%@@@OOOOOOOOO OOOOO0@@@@@@@@@@@OOOOOOOO OOOOO@@@OOO@OOO@@@@OOOOOOO OOOO@@@O@@OO@@@OO@O OOOOOO OOO@@@OOO@O@@@@@O@OOO @@OOOOO OOOO@O@OO@@@OO@@O@@OOOOOO OOOOO@@@@@OOO@OOO@@OOOOOOO OOOOOO@@@@@@@@@@@@@OOOOOOOO' OOOOOOO@@@@@O@@@@@@OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO@@@@OOO@@OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO@@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO@@@@@@OOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOQQ@@OQOOOOOOOOOOO OOGOOOOOOOOO@@@OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOO@OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ELECTRONIC MECHANICAL APPARATUS FOR THE SELECTION OF NEEDLES IN STRAIGHT KNITTING MACHINES IN THE MAKING OF JACQUARD KNITTED FABRICS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to automatic straight knitting machines and relates particularly to an apparatus for the selection of the needles in order to obtain Jacquard type designs on the knitted fabric.

PRIOR ART Apparatus is available for fixing to straight knitting machines in order to produce Jacquard knitted fabrics. This apparatus, normally called Jacquard apparatus, gives rise to numerous difficulties, themain one of which is that it does not allow the design to be seen directly on the programming member which determines the operation of the machine. The required'design must first be produced on paper point for point and then converted into a programming member (punched metal plates, tape, film,. etc.). This. operation requires considerable. experience and in the case of punched plates high cost equipment is required which in the majority of hosiery mills in not available. In order to obtain the programming member for a certain design, the hosiery rnill must hence apply to third parties or to the firm which built the machine, which results in considerable loss of time which can be extremely damaging when considering the fact that knitted fabrics are subject to sudden transformation according to fashion. Moreover the design on the knitted fabric made with the previously formed programming member does not always correspond exactly to the required design as drawn. Any modifications to the programming member further influence the time which passes between the decision to make a certain design and the moment in which it is possible to start its relative production. Moreover, even for making a few sample articles of a certain design, it is necessary to prepare the relative programming member which later becomes completely useless if these articles are not put into production.

Recently a Jacquard apparatus'has been proposed with an electronic-mechanical control. This apparatus comprises a reader, a simulator and an electronic control device and the selective function of the conventional steel Jacquard cards is here assumed by a punched card which, for each working stroke, determines the closing or opening of the holes of a single skeleton card by means of small magnets. Even this system although possessing considerable advantages with respect to the preceding metal plate or card systems, does not allow direct vision of the design on the programming member.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines which does not give rise to the stated disadvantages of conventional apparatus and which allows the design to be reproduced by the machine on the knitted fabric to be imposed with the greatest ease and rapidity and in a directly visible manner.

This object is attained by an apparatus for selecting the needles comprising essentially a programming member in the form of a panel of Cartesian coordinates in which each point on the abscissae of intersection with an ordinate corresponds to one needle of the machine and the ordinates represent the strokes of the carriage of the machine at the points of intersection of the coordinates, elements for imposing according to the required design being provided, the imposing or not of said elements determining the emission of signals for selecting those needles which have or have not to work in each stroke of the carriage Said elements for imposing may comprise, for example, pairs ofholes and pins from pushbuttons, switches and the like. The imposing of said elements on the panel indicates if the respective needles have or have not to work and hence permits an immediate and direct vision of the programmed design, which maybe modified or changed totally by simply varying the layout of said elements thus leading to an enormous saving in time and material with respect to conventional systems. In fact in the making of Jacquard designs, all types of perforated plates or cards, punched cards and the like are completely eliminated. The machine immediately executes -the'-design which is programmed and laid out on the panel, and any necessary correction may be made with extreme rapidity. The drawing of the design represents directly the programming of the machine and his hence possible to make even a limited production with very low passive costs and with no loss of time.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the se lection of needles is carried out by means of suitable pushers or underneedles which are operated by cams provided in the lock of the carriage. These cams are, in their turn, operated by electromagnets mounted. on the carriage to which the selection signals arrive, with their emission being determined by the presence or lack of presence of pins in the holes of the programmer panel. Two series of cams and respective electromagnets are provided, of which one series works when the carriage moves in one direction and the second series when the carriage moves in the opposite direction. Each series comprises a certain number of cams (and respective electromagnets) equal to the number of types of heeled pushers placed at different levels. The electronic part of the apparatus in an advantageous embodiment of the invention comprises a position reader placed on the carriage-of the machine and adapted to indicate instant for instant to the programmer panel the position of the carriage with the cams with respect to the needles in the holders by way of a counter, a second counter by way of which at each end of carriage stroke, the position on the ordinates of the panel for the successive carriage stroke is chosen by means of externally arriving information, and a selector connected at its inlet to the position reader for predisposing the succession of operation of the electromagnets located on the carriage, with said selector being connected at its outlet to two series of electromagnets by way of a commutator operated at each end of carriage stroke and to said selector also arriving the outlet signal from the first counter which indicates if the electromagnet under consideration at a determined instant must be energized or not, and hence whether the cam corresponding to that electromagnet must be put into operation or out of operation.

The apparatus to the invention will be described hereinafter in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which diagrammatically illustrate one possible non-limitative embodiment by way of example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical perspective view of a straight knitting machine provided with the apparatus for selecting needles according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial view of a needle board ofthe machine and the main cams of the lock of the carriage;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is the block diagram of the electronic part of the apparatus;

FIG. 5 is an example of a design required to be made, and

FIG. 6 shows the relative composition of the programme on the programmer panel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OFTHE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows in diagrammatic form an automatic straight knitting machine to which the apparatus for selection of needles according to the invention has been fixed. Of the machine itself, which may be of any conventional type, only those parts will be described hereinafter which are indispensable for a complete understanding of the invention. These comprise a Jacquard machine with a V-needle board, indicated by the reference numeral 1, on which a carriage 2 moves with reciprocal motion between two extreme positions and carries cams for the operation of the needles placed in the slots of the board 1. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, in each slot there is a tongue needle 3, a first underneedle or pusher 4 and a second underneedle or pusher 5. There are ten different types of these latter pushers 5 which are distinguished by the different level at which their heel 5a is situated. The pushers S are disposed in such a succession that between two successive needles which have their heel 5a at the same level there is a step equal to ten times the pitch of the slots in the board.

For moving the needles 3 and pushers 4 and 5 the following cams are provided in the lock of the carriage 2: a central cam 6 which forms part of the normal cam system of a straight knitting machine and serves, when in the working position, to directly move the needles 3 by acting on their heels 3a. A central cam 7 below the cam 6 serves to move the pushers 4 and hence the needles 3. However as the heel 4a of the pushers 4 is at a lower level than the cam 7, this latter can act on the pushers 4 only if they have been raised into the working position by the lower pushers 5. Acting on the pushers 5 there are cams 8: there are two series of these cams, one to the left indicated by the reference numeral 80 and one to the right indicated by 8b, which operate when the carriage moves from right to left and from left to right respectively. Each series of cams 8a and 8b comprises ten cams situated at levels corresponding to the different levels of the heels 5a of the pushers 5. When the cams 8a and 8b are put into the active position they raise the corresponding pushers 5, and consequently the corresponding pushers 4, by a distance sufficient for the central cam 7 on its successive passage to raise the selected pushers 4 by way of their heels 4a and hence the corresponding needles 3. Consequently putting a cam 80 or 8b into the active position signifies selecting the pusher 4 which has its heel 4a at the level of this cam and bringing the corresponding needle 3 into the working position. It should be observed that during the phase of producing the design, the needles are made to rise only by means of the corresponding pushers as described above, the central cam 6 which acts directly on the needles being inactive.

The lock of the carriage 2 comprises two other cams 9a and 9b which function alternately according to the movement of the carriage and serve to return to their initial lowered position the pushers 4 and 5 which were previously raised in their respective chord of the carriage. The cams 9a and 9b act on the heels 4a of the pushers 4.

With reference to FIG. 2 and assuming that the carriage with the cams is carrying out a stroke from right to left (according to the arrow), the cams 8a are predisposed to operate and the cam 9b is inserted. These cams are indicated by full lines. The cams 8b and 9a are, however, inactive and these are indicated by broken lines. It is, moreover, supposed that at the instant of time under consideration the seventh and eighth cam from the top are in the working position. It can be seen that the respective pushers 4 are raised before their heels 4a begin to interfere with the cam 7.

By observing the pushers previously raised it can be seen that the fourth, ninth, eighth, fourth, third and second cams 8a from the top have worked in succession.

In order to select the needles to be raised as required by the design to be reproduced, it is hence necessary to conveniently operate the cams 8a or 8b respectively in the space of time during which these cams pass from one pusher 5 to the successive pusher which has its heel 5a at the same level as the former.

For carrying out this selection, the apparatus according to the invention is provided and will be described in detail hereinafter.

It should be noted that in order to execute designs of the most varied type the machine must be capable of working during each carriage stroke with a minimum of one needle up to a maximum of all the needles without any limitation as to the position and periodicity of the needles selected.

It has been stated that in order to select a determined needle it is necessary for the respective cam 8a (or 8b according to the direction of stroke of the carriage) to be brought into the working position at the instant in which the carriage 2 passes in a position corresponding to said needle.

At this point it should be noted that a design on a knitted fabric can be obtained in two different ways, either selecting the needles which are to work (i.e., those which have to be raised) or selecting those needles which are not to work (i.e., those which have to remain lowered). For simplicity only the first way will be considered hereinafter, but it should be understood that the second way'is also easily obtainable by means of simple inversion obvious to a technician in this field.

Operation of the cams 8a and 8b is obtained by means of electromagnets 10. As two series of cams 8a and 8b respectively are provided there are also two series of electromagnets 10a and 10b respectively, namely one for each cam.

In FIG. 3, a moving arm 11 of each electromagnet 10 is connected directly to the corresponding cam 8 and a spring 12 maintains the arm with the cam in the rest position if the electromagnet is not energized. In FIG. 3 all electromagnets with the exception of those relative to the seventh and eighth cam 8a from the'top are in the non-energized state.

The two series of electromagnets 10a and 10b are assembled together with the lock on the carriage 2 of the machine.

The apparatus according to the invention for'selecting the needles and hence for controlling the electromagnets 10a and 10b, comprises as its principle part a programmer panel 13 disposed in an easily accessible and visible manner in a housing 14 separated from the machine and connected electrically by means of a cable 15 of suitable length to the carriage 2 (see FIG. 1);

The panel 13 is composed of a certain number of coordinate boards and comprises a plurality of perforations 16 (see FIG. 6) in each of which a pin 17 (indicated by a full circle in FIG. 6) can be inserted as required. On the abscissae of the panel 13 each perforation 16 corresponds to one needle 3 on the needle board 1 of the machine, while the ordinates represent the strokes of the carriage 2, i.e., the rows of knitting of the fabric which is being made. It should be noted that maximumvariability of design will be obtained if all the needles of the needleboard have a corresponding perforation on the abscissae of the panel 13 and if the number of ordinates is as big as possible. For practical purposes and considering that often the designs either do not extend over the whole height of the knitted articles produced or are repeated periodically, it will not be indispensable for all needles without distinction to be represented on the panel by means of their own perforation, but it can besufficient for the perforations to represent a certain field of needles which can be varied.

With reference to FIG. 4 of the drawings, the electronic part of the apparatus according to the invention will be briefly described.

This electronic part comprises a position reader 18 which is mounted on the carriage 2 of the machine and has the purpose of indicating to the panel 13 by way of a counter 19 instant for instant the position of the carriage 2 with the lock with respect to the needle board 1, and hence .to determine which needle 3 it is necessary to act on many determined instant, with the needle as stated being represented by means of a corresponding perforation 16 in a precise position on the abscissae of the panel 13. The position reader 18 may be constructed in any known manner. For example, it may be of the photoelectric cell type with a magnetic head or the like.

At each end of stroke of the carriage 2 the ordinate of panel 13 to be taken into consideration in the successive stroke of the carriage 2 is chosen by way of a second counter 20. This choice may be made by means of information arriving from the general programmer of the machine according to a predetermined programme. For example, the ordinates may be chosen in succession one after the other until the last and then the cycle reassumed from the beginning.

It is clear, however, that for economic reasons when the designs to be executed comprise repetitions, symmetries or the like, the choice may be made according to other criteria.

The position on the ordinates chosen previously for each stroke of the carriage and the position on the abscissae given instant for instant by the position reader 18 determine the'coordinates of a point corresponding to a perforation 16 on the panel 13. The presence or absence of a pin 17 in this hole 16 gives a signal at the outlet of the counter 19, the purpose of which is to make the determined needle 3 taken into consideration at that instant (corresponding to the perforation defined at that moment) operate or not operate.

As previously stated, two series of electromagnets 10a and 10b respectively are situated on the carriage 2 and must be predisposed-for operation according to the direction of stroke of thecarriage 2. This commutation from one series to the other and vice versa is effected by limit switches which cause the alternate commutation of a commutator 21 situated on the machine. Moreover as'stated the cams 8a and 8b respectively must be predisposed to be controlled one after the other in progressive order from the firstto the last, and

hence the corresponding electromagnets 10a and 10b respectively must also follow the same order. To obtain this a selector 22 is provided, which receives the signal from the position reader 18 and predisposes the correct operational succession of the electromagnets.

The selector also receives the outlet signal from the counter 19 which indicates if the electromagnet under consideration at a, determined moment must be energized or not, and hence if the corresponding cam 8 must be made active or not.

It is clear that the electronic part of the apparatus serves to determine which needles must operate during each carriage stroke, by way of the programmer panel on which the required design has been laid out by means of pins or other analogous layout elements (pushbuttons or the like).

From the description given heretofore it is evident that the part of major importance from the point of view of the invention is the programmer panel 13 on which the required design can be laid out rapidly and with extreme simplicityand appears directly visible on the panel itself.

- FIG. 5 shows a pattern of a certain design and FIG. 6 shows the same design laid out and programmed on the programmer panel. The exact correspondence can be clearly seen. The advantages which derive from this new layout possibility for designs to be made with straight knitting machines are considerable and evident for any expert.

It should be noted that the electronic part of the apparatus, which as been described only briefly, may be easily constructed by an electronic expert in many different ways on the basis of the information given heretofore with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 4. A more detailed description of the individual circuits, which are in any case of a completely conventional nature, is consequently considered superfluous.

What is claimed is:

1. An electro-mechanical apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines for the making of Jacquard knitted fabrics, the machine being of the type including a needle board having slots, a needle disposed in each slot, at least one pusher in each slot below a needle, a carriage having reciprocable strokes between two extreme positions relative to the needle board, first cam means on the carriage for moving the needles and second cam means on the carriage for moving the pushers, said apparatus comprising: a pro- 1 grammer member defined by a panel of Cartesian coordinates in which each point of intersection of the abcissae with an ordinate corresponds to a needle of the needle board and in which the ordinates represent the carriage strokes; connecting elements positioned at the points of intersection of the coordinates according to the required design; electromagnets disposed on the carriage of the knitting machine for operating the second cam means and moving the selected pushers and needles thereabove in response to generated selection signals, siad electromagnets and associated second cam means being disposed in two series; commutator means for ensuring alternate operation of each series of electromagnets and second cam means at the end of each carriage stroke; selector means coupled to said commutator means for ensuring operation of said electromagnets of a series in a predetermined order of succession; and signal emitting means actuated by the positioned connecting elements for generating selection signals to said electromagnets representative of the selected pushers and needles during each carriage stroke to thereby effect a knitting of the required design, said signal emitting means comprising a position reader means disposed on the carriage for generating signals indicative of the instantaneous position of the carriage and said second cam means with respect to the needles, a first counter means coupled to said programmer member for receiving said position signals and for indicating on said programmer member the position of the carriage and said second cam means with respect to the abcissae of said programmer member, a second counter means coupled to said programmer member for receiving external information at each termination of the carriage stroke and indicating on said programmer member the position of the next successive carriage stroke with respect to the ordinates of said programmer member, selection signals being generated in accordance with the correlation of said positioned connecting elements with the intersection of respective indicated abcissae and ordinates of said programmer member.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting elements constitute pairs of perforations on said programming member panel and pins.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting elements comprise pushbuttons. 

1. An electro-mechanical apparatus for the selection of needles in straight knitting machines for the making of Jacquard knitted fabrics, the machine being of the type including a needle board having slots, a needle disposed in each slot, at least one pusher in each slot below a needle, a carriage having reciprocable strokes between two extreme positions relative to the needle board, first cam means on the carriage for moving the needles and second cam means on the carriage for moving the pushers, said apparatus comprising: a programmer member defined by a panel of Cartesian coordinates in which each point of intersection of the abcissae with an ordinate corresponds to a needle of the needle board and in which the ordinates represent the carriage strokes; connecting elements positioned at the points of intersection of the coordinates according to the required design; electromagnets disposed on the carriage of the knitting machine for operating the second cam means and moving the selected pushers and needles thereabove in response to generated selection signals, siad electromagnets and associated second cam means being disposed in two series; commutator means for ensuring alternate operation of each series of electromagnets and second cam means at the end of each carriage stroke; selector means coupled to said commutator means for ensuring operation of said electromagnets of a series in a predetermined order of succession; and signal emitting means actuated by the positioned connecting elements for generating selection signals to said electromagnets representative of the selected pushers and needles during each carriage stroke to thereby effect a knitting of the required design, said signal emitting means comprising a position reader means disposed on the carriage for generating signals indicative of the instantaneous position of the carriage and said second cam means with respect to the needles, a first counter means coupled to said programmer member for receiving said position signals and for indicating on said programmer member the position of the carriage and said second cam means with respect to the abcissae of said programmer member, a second counter means coupled to said programmer member for receiving external information at each termination of the carriage stroke and indicating on said programmer member the position of the next successive carriage stroke with respect to the ordinates of said programmer member, selection signals being generated in accordance with the correlation of said positioned connecting elements with the intersection of respective indicated abcissae and ordinates of said programmer member.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting elements constitute pairs of perforations on said programming member panel and pins.
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting elements comprise pushbuttons. 